What's Ahead: The
Drake women's cross country team is ready and rested after a week off from
competition to compete at Ewing Park in Des Moines during the Grand View
Invitational on Friday (Sept. 21). The 8,000-meter race will start at 5 p.m.
for the women.

Last Time Out: The
Bulldog women had their strongest showing in three years at the Oz Memorial on
Sept. 7 putting together a team score of 76 to finish second. Host Minnesota claimed
the lowest score possible of 15.

Drake fifth-year senior Kirsten Lake (Parker, Colo.) was the first Bulldog to finish the race. She ran the
6-kilometer course in a time of 22:45.84 followed by sophomore Mariel Fulton (Louisville, Colo.) who
was 25th at 23:36.58.

A Year Ago: A limited
squad of Bulldog runners earned a second-place showing at the Grand View
Invitational. Freshman Melissa Parks(Norfolk,
Neb.) led the way, earning an eighth-place finish in 19:39. Sophomores Erin Poss(Antioch, Ill.) and Celia Venezia (Labadie, Mo.) were ninth
and 10th with times of 19:53 and 19:54, respectively.

Grand View's Obsie Birru, who won the 10,000-meters at the
Drake Relays in 2011 and 2012, won the 5,000-meter race at Ewing Park in 17:51.

Better Know a Bulldog: Freshman standouts Emma Johnson and Taylor Scholl participated in the first installment of "Better Know A Bulldog".

Johnson, a freshman from Mora,
Minn., who was class valedictorian at Mora High School, placed in the team top
seven at the Oz Memorial and 15th at the Bulldog Classic.

Scholl, a freshman from Prior
Lake, Minn., who was a six-time letterwinner in cross country at Prior Lake
High School, placed 12th at the Bulldog Classic and 27th, as the third runner
for the Bulldogs, at the Oz Memorial.

The athletes discuss their first few weeks at Drake,
returning to their home state of Minnesota for the Oz Memorial, and even show
off their team handshake.